Oil measuring means for sewing machines



$1111 29, 1955 A. .1. MATUZAS 2,705,055

on. MEASURING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed June 7. 1954 l V U 5 n n i 'Fig.l

INVENTOR'. Anfhony J Mafuzas A TTORNEY United States Patent 01L MEASURING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES Anthony Ii. Matnzas, Union, N. J., assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey Application lune 7, 1954, Serial No. 434,736

Claims. (Cl. 184--1) The present invention relates to sewing machines and has for a primary object to provide in a manually lubricated sewing machine means for reducing the possibility of over-oiling.

In manually lubricated sewing machines, oil-holes are provided in the frame directly above the points to be lubricated and oil from a spout-type oil-can is introduced through these holes and drops by gravity onto the intended surfaces. The quantity of oil required for proper lubrication of the elements is usually very small, in the order of a couple of drops. Any excess above this amount is not only unnecessary, but also undesirable since that excess will fall or be thrown during operation from the intended surfaces and be deposited elsewhere. Aside from being wasteful and messy, this oil may also be deposited upon surfaces which are engaged by the material being sewn and on which oil is most undesirable.

The problem of over-oiling is particularly acute in household or so-called family sewing machines. The average user of household machines has difiiculty in judging or fails to read the instructions relating to the proper amount of oil to be introduced into the machine, and almost invariably will over-oil the same. It has heretofore been the practice in many instances to pack the oil-holes with wicking, which expedient has the effect of prohibiting the free introduction of oil through the oil-holes. However, this practice is subject to many drawbacks, such as, the degree to which the wick is packed in the hole varies considerably and the degree of packing determines the porosity of the wick, and there is a tendency for the wicks to fall through by vibration of the machine incident to the operation thereof or to be pushed through by the spout of the oil can during oiling. The effects of a wick falling onto the underlying operating mechanism can be seriously destructive.

In accordance with the above it is an object of the present invention to provide means for permitting manual oiling of a sewing machine by introducing only the proper amount of oil and will, at the same time, reduce the possibility of over-oiling.

Having in mind the above and other objects that will be evident from an understanding of this disclosure, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts as illustrated in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter set forth in such detail as to enable those skilled in the art readily to understand the function, operation, construction and the advantages of it when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation view, partly broken and in section, of a sewing machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail section view, taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. l, of an oil-hole insert in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a detail section view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings there is illustrated a sewing machine having a frame comprising a base or bed 1 and a standard 2 rising from the bed and carrying a bracket-arm 3 that overhangs the bed. The open top of the bracketarm 3 is closed by a cover-plate 4 held down by screws, as at 5. Mounted in the standard 2 is a drive-motor 6 with the axis thereof arranged vertically. In a manner such as disclosed in the patent of Peets, No. 2,617,375, the motor 6 is adapted to drive a main or bracket-arm shaft 7 that is journaled longitudinally of 2,705,055 Patented Mar. 29, 1955 the bracket-arm 3 in bearings, such as 8, and is provided with the usual hand-wheel 9 upon the exposed end thereof.

The present machine may be provided with any suitable feeding mechanism and stitching mechanism which as herein illustrated includes a bevel gear 10 secured to the main-shaft 7 by a set-screw 11 and meshing with a driven gear 12 secured by a set screw 13 on the upper end of a vertical shaft 14 journaled for rotation in suitable bearings, such as 15, carried by the standard 2. The shaft 14 is designed to be operatively connected to a loop-taker (not shown) for driving the same. Formed integral with the gear 10 are a pair of eccentrics 16 and 17. The eccentric 16 is embraced by the upper strap-like end of a pitman 18 which is designed to impart feed-lift motions to a feeding element (not shown). The eccentric 17 is disposed between the tines of the fork-like upper end of a pitman 19 which is designed to impart variable feed-advance motions to the feeding element.

To provide for lubrication of the contacting surfaces between the main-shaft 7 and the bearing 8, there is provided an aperture 20 in the bearing 8 that communicates with an oil-duct 21 formed in the frame of the machine vertically above the aperture 20 whereby oil deposited in the duct 21 will be conducted to the contacting surfaces. In a similar manner, the feed-lift pitman 18 is provided with an oil duct 22 in the upper portion thereof, which duct leads to the contacting surfaces between the pitman 18 and the eccentric 16.

The cover-plate 4 is provided with a depending boss 23 having three enlarged portions in each of which is formed a vertically arranged oil-hole 24, 25 and 26. The oil-hole 24 is disposed directly above the oil-duct 22 in the strap portion of the pitman 18 whereby oil introduced through the former will fall by gravity into the latter and will be conducted to the bearing surfaces between the pitman 18 and eccentric 16. The oil-hole 25 isdisposed directly above the eccentric 17 and oil introduced through the same will fall directly onto the eccentric 17 and thereby lubricate the bearing surfaces between the forked upper end of the pitman 19 and the eccentric 17. The oil-hole 26 is disposed directly above the oil-duct 21 whereby oil introduced through the hole 26 will fall into the duct 21 and will be conducted to the contacting surfaces between the main-shaft 7 and bearing 8.

If too much oil is introduced through the holes 24, 25 and 26, the excess will find its way' to the motor 6 and damage the same. To meter or measure the oil passing through the oil-holes, there is provided an insert, generally indicated at 27, fitted into each of the oil-holes. Since each of these inserts and oil-holes are r the same and function in the same manner, the description of one of them is believed to be adequate. The following description is therefore limited to the insert 27 that is associated with the oil-hole 24.

The insert 27, which may be made from any suitable material, such as brass, aluminum, or steel, is formed from prismatic stock, or in other words, stock that is polygonal in cross-section, and preferably from hexagonal stock having edges 28 and faces 29. Formed longitudinally of each of the faces 29 is an arcuate groove 30. The end 31 of the insert is tapered and back from the end 31, the edges 28 are cut away cylindrically to provide cylindrical faces 32 which define a cylindrically reduced portion and produce a shoulder 33 at the end of the faces 32. That portion of the hole 24 above the insert 27 constitutes a reservoir 34. The cylindrically reduced portion is made to be only slightly smaller in diameter than the hole 24 and the diameter of the insert 27 between opposed edges 28 is slightly larger than the diameter of the hole 24. Thus, to assemble the oil metering means the insert 27 is placed in the hole 24 with the tapered end 31 down. Because of the cylindrically reduced portion defined by the cut-away surfaces 32 which are smaller in diameter than the hole 24, the insert will rest with the shoulders 33 on the upper surface of the cover plate 5. The insert is then driven down into its operative position as illustrated in the drawings and, as will be apparent, the edges 28, which are larger in diameter than the hole 24, will cut appropriate grooves in the side of the hole 24 and is thus force fitted which insures that it will remain in the desired set position.

When oil is introduced into the hole 24 with the insert 27 in place, a couple of drops of oil will fill the reservoir 34, thus indicating that enough oil has been introduced. The oil in the reservoir 34 will then slowly sweep through the small slots or oil-metering ducts (indicated at 35 in Fig. 3) between the arcuate grooves 30 and the adjacent side-wall of the hole 24, onto the tapered end 31 of the insert, and from there drops off onto the desired surface. The tapering of the end 31 facilitates the dropping off of the oil. In view of the fact that the few drops of oil which are required to fill reservoir 34 will be placed therein in a very short period of time, say one or two seconds, and the fact that the slots 35 are quite small and will meter the oil flowing therethrough so that a comparatively long period of time, say 15 or 20 seconds, is required to drain those few drops of oil from the reservoir 34, there is a substantial period of time during which the reservoir 34 will be full, or substantially full and incapable of taking any more oil. Thus, there has been provided means which will indicate, even to the most casual observer, that there has been enough oil introduced.

The insert in accordance with the present invention constitutes a very economical means for reducing the possibility of over-oiling. The insert 27 may be produced from shaped stock, extruded or even machined, but preferably drawn, having the grooves 30 pre-formed therein, which is fed to a screw machine that forms the tapered end 31 and the cylindrically reduced portion defined by the cylindrical faces 32, and severs the same from the stock.

It should be noted that the capacity of the reservoir 34 may be varied by varying the length of the insert 27, or preferably, by varying the depth to which it is driven in the hole 24, thus varying the amount of oil measured for the intended surface.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to a preferred embodiment of my invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. An oiling expedient for a sewing machine having a frame and operating mechanism arranged internally of said frame, said frame having an oil-hole formed therein at a point directly above a portion of said operating mechanism that is to be lubricated, said oilhole constituting means for manually introducing oil through said frame to the underlying portion of said operating mechanism, and means for measuring the amount of oil to be introduced through said oil-hole comprising an insert force-fitted into said oil-hole and having an oil-metering duct formed therethrough, said insert being positioned within said oil-hole with the upper surface thereof below the upper edge of said oil-hole and thereby defining a reservoir comprising that portion of said oil-hole above said insert, said reservoir having a capacity equal to the desired quantity of oil and which reservoir is adapted to be drained through said oil-metering duct.

2. An oiling expedient for a sewing machine having a frame and operating mechanism arranged internally of said frame, said frame having an oil-hole formed therein at a point directly above a portion of said operating mechanism that is to be lubricated, said oilhole constituting means for manually introducing oil through said frame to the underlying portion of said operating mechanism, and means for measuring the amount of oil to be introduced through said oil-hole comprising an insert force-fitted into said oil-hole and having a plurality of longitudinally arranged grooves formed in the periphery thereof, said insert being positioned within said oil-hole with the upper surface thereof below the upper edge of said oil-hole and thereby defining a reservoir comprising that portion of said oil-hole above said insert, said reservoir having a capacity equal to the desired quantity of oil and which reservoir is adapted to be drained by the slots between the side-wall of said oil-hole and the longitudinally arranged grooves.

3. An oiling expedient as set forth in claim 2 in which said insert has the lower portion thereof cylindrically reduced to a diameter that is smaller than the diameter of said oil-hole to facilitate initial positioning of said insert within the oil-hole.

4. An oiling expedient as set forth in claim 3 in which the lower extremity of said insert is tapered to facilitate the dropping off of the lubricant from the insert.

5. An oiling expedient for a sewing machine having a frame and operating mechanism arranged internally of said frame, said frame having an oil-hole formed therein at a point directly above a portion of said operating mechanism that is to be lubricated, said oilhole constituting means for manually introducing oil through said frame to the underlying portion of said operating mechanism, and means for measuring the amount of oil to be introduced through said oil-hole comprising an insert force-fitted into said hole, said insert being polygonal in cross-section and having a longitudinally arranged groove in each of the peripheral faces thereof, said insert being positioned within said oil-hole with the upper surface thereof below the upper edge of said oil-hole and thereby defining a reservoir comprising that portion of said oil-hole above said insert, said reservoir having a capacity equal to the desired quantity of oil and which reservoir is adapted to be drained by the slots between the side-wall of said oil-hole and the longitudinally arranged grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 657,130 Olmsted Sept. 4, 1900 1,632,724 Bloom June 14, 1927 1,905,527 Thomas Apr. 25, 1933 2,002,809 Williamson May 28, 1935 

